Ethernet Technologies What is Ethernet?

Ethernet is a family of technologies that provides data-link and

physical
specifications for controlling access to a shared network medium.
It has
emerged as the dominant technology used in LAN networking.
Ethernet was originally developed by Xerox in the 1970s, and
operated at
2.94Mbps. The technology was standardized as Ethernet
Version 1 by a
consortium of three companies - DEC, Intel, and Xerox,
collectively referred
to as DIX - and further refined as Ethernet II in 1982.
In the mid 1980s, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers
(IEEE) published a formal standard for Ethernet, defined as the
IEEE 802.3
standard. The original 802.3 Ethernet operated at 10Mbps, and
successfully
supplanted competing LAN technologies, such as Token Ring.
Ethernet has several benefits over other LAN technologies:
Simple to install and manage
Inexpensive
Flexible and scalable
Easy to interoperate between vendors
(References: http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Ethernet_Technologies;
http://www.techfest.com/networking/lan/ethernet1.htm)

Ethernet Cabling Types

Ethernet can be deployed over three types of cabling:
Coaxial cabling almost entirely deprecated in Ethernet
networking
Twisted-pair cabling
Fiber optic cabling
Coaxial cable, often abbreviated as coax, consists of a single
wire
surrounded by insulation, a metallic shield, and a plastic sheath.
The shield

helps protect against electromagnetic interference (EMI),

which can cause
attenuation, a reduction of the strength and quality of a signal.
EMI can be
generated by a variety of sources, such as florescent light
ballasts,
microwaves, cell phones, and radio transmitters.
Coax is commonly used to deploy cable television to homes and
businesses.
CCNP Switching Study Guide v2.01 Aaron Balchunas
***
All original material copyright 2014 by Aaron Balchunas (aaron@routeralley.com),
unless otherwise noted. All other material copyright of their respective owners.
This material may be copied and used freely, but may not be altered or sold without the
expressed written
consent of the owner of the above copyright. Updated material may be found at
http://www.routeralley.com.

Ethernet Cabling Types (continued)

Two types of coax were used historically in Ethernet networks:
Thinnet
Thicknet
Thicknet has a wider diameter and more shielding, which supports
greater
distances. However, it is less flexible than the smaller thinnet, and
thus more
difficult to work with. A vampire tap is used to physically
connect devices
to thicknet, while a BNC connector is used for thinnet.
Twisted-pair cable consists of two or four pairs of copper wires
in a plastic
sheath. Wires in a pair twist around each other to reduce
crosstalk, a form of
EMI that occurs when the signal from one wire bleeds or
interferes with a
signal on another wire. Twisted-pair is the most common Ethernet
cable.
Twisted-pair cabling can be either shielded or unshielded.
Shielded twistedpair
is more resistant to external EMI; however, all forms of twistedpair
suffer from greater signal attenuation than coax cable.

There are several categories of twisted-pair cable, identified by

the number
of twists per inch of the copper pairs:
Category 3 or Cat3 - three twists per inch.
Cat5 - five twists per inch.
Cat5e - five twists per inch; pairs are also twisted around each
other.
Cat6 six twists per inch, with improved insulation.
An RJ45 connector is used to connect a device to a twisted-pair
cable. The
layout of the wires in the connector dictates the function of the
cable.
While coax and twisted-pair cabling carry electronic signals, fiber
optics
uses light to transmit a signal. Ethernet supports two fiber
specifications:
Singlemode fiber consists of a very small glass core,
allowing only
a single ray or mode of light to travel across it. This greatly
reduces
the attenuation and dispersion of the light signal, supporting high
bandwidth over very long distances, often measured in
kilometers.
Multimode fiber consists of a larger core, allowing multiple
modes
of light to traverse it. Multimode suffers from greater dispersion
than
singlemode, resulting in shorter supported distances.
Singlemode fiber requires more precise electronics than
multimode, and thus
is significantly more expensive. Multimode fiber is often used for
high-speed
connectivity within a datacenter.
CCNP Switching Study Guide v2.01 Aaron Balchunas
***
All original material copyright 2014 by Aaron Balchunas (aaron@routeralley.com),
unless otherwise noted. All other material copyright of their respective owners.
This material may be copied and used freely, but may not be altered or sold without the
expressed written
consent of the owner of the above copyright. Updated material may be found at
http://www.routeralley.com.

Network Topologies
A topology defines both the physical and logical structure of a
network.
Topologies come in a variety of configurations, including:
Bus
Star
Ring
Full or partial mesh
Ethernet supports two topology types bus and star.
Ethernet Bus Topology
In a bus topology, all hosts share a single physical segment (the
bus or the
backbone) to communicate:
A frame sent by one host is received by all other hosts on the bus.
However,
a host will only process a frame if it matches the destination
hardware
address in the data-link header.
Bus topologies are inexpensive to implement, but are almost
entirely
deprecated in Ethernet. There are several disadvantages to the
bus topology:
Both ends of the bus must be terminated, otherwise a signal
will
reflect back and cause interference, severely degrading
performance.
Adding or removing hosts to the bus can be difficult.
The bus represents a single point of failure - a break in the bus
will
affect all hosts on the segment. Such faults are often very difficult
to
troubleshoot.
A bus topology is implemented using either thinnet or thicknet
coax cable.
CCNP Switching Study Guide v2.01 Aaron Balchunas

***
All original material copyright 2014 by Aaron Balchunas (aaron@routeralley.com),
unless otherwise noted. All other material copyright of their respective owners.

This material may be copied and used freely, but may not be altered or sold without the
expressed written
consent of the owner of the above copyright. Updated material may be found at
http://www.routeralley.com.

Ethernet Star Topology

In a star topology, each host has an individual point-to-point
connection to a
centralized hub or switch:
A hub provides no intelligent forwarding whatsoever, and will
always
forward every frame out every port, excluding the port originating
the frame.
As with a bus topology, a host will only process a frame if it
matches the
destination hardware address in the data-link header. Otherwise,
it will
discard the frame.
A switch builds a hardware address table, allowing it to make
intelligent
forwarding decisions based on frame (data-link) headers. A frame
can then
be forwarded out only the appropriate destination port, instead of
all ports.
Hubs and switches are covered in great detail in another guide.
Adding or removing hosts is very simple in a star topology. Also, a
break in
a cable will affect only that one host, and not the entire network.
There are two disadvantages to the star topology:
The hub or switch represents a single point of failure.
Equipment and cabling costs are generally higher than in a bus
topology.
However, the star is still the dominant topology in modern
Ethernet
networks, due to its flexibility and scalability. Both twisted-pair
and fiber
cabling can be used in a star topology.
CCNP Switching Study Guide v2.01 Aaron Balchunas
***
All original material copyright 2014 by Aaron Balchunas (aaron@routeralley.com),
unless otherwise noted. All other material copyright of their respective owners.

This material may be copied and used freely, but may not be altered or sold without the
expressed written
consent of the owner of the above copyright. Updated material may be found at
http://www.routeralley.com.

The Ethernet Frame

An Ethernet frame contains the following fields:
Field Length Description
Preamble 7 bytes Synchronizes communication
Start of Frame 1 byte Signals the start of a valid frame
MAC Destination 6 bytes Destination MAC address
MAC Source 6 bytes Source MAC address
802.1Q tag 4 bytes Optional VLAN tag
Ethertype or length 2 bytes Payload type or frame size
Payload 42-1500 bytes Data payload
CRC 4 bytes Frame error check
Interframe Gap 12 bytes Required idle period between frames